Obama, DNC raise $76 million in July

posted at 1:52 pm on August 16, 2008 by Ed Morrissey

Barack Obama continued his fundraising roll in July, racking up $51 million while the DNC raised an additional $25 million. The July total represents a small decrease from June, but more concerning to Team Obama has to be his competitive position. He outraised McCain 2-1 over the last two months, but combined, the RNC/McCain combo has as much cash on hand as Obama/DNC:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama raised more than $51 million in July and the Democratic National Committee reported $27.7 million in donations last month, putting Obama in a strong position for the fall campaign.

Obama began August with $65.8 million on hand and the DNC had $28.5 million available, according to statements released Saturday. His July total was slightly less than the $52 million he raised in June.

Obama’s Internet-powered fundraising efforts have shattered all previous records for a presidential campaign, bringing in a total of $390 million so far. The Illinois senator has announced he will forgo public financing for the general election, giving up $84 million in taxpayer money for the final two months of the campaign and committing himself to a steady pace of fundraising.

By contrast, Republican candidate John McCain has raised just $140 million and has agreed to accept public financing for the general election and the spending restraints that come with it. McCain has remained competitive, however, because of the fundraising success of the Republican National Committee.

All in all, the Obama campaign has had a good summer. However, they’re increasingly playing at a disadvantage. Obama won’t get the $84 million in public financing McCain receives on September 4th, and which will last him the final 60 days of the election. McCain won’t have to spend a dime to get that money, and can continue to assist the RNC in their highly successful efforts — which will have all of the focus after the convention.

In comparison, the Obama campaign has to spend money to raise donations, keeping him focused on addressing the funding gap instead of campaigning. The DNC has proven inept under Howard Dean’s leadership at raising money, which means that Obama will have to shoulder most of the effort after Denver. As the AP notes, Democrats have already ponied up $390 million in this election cycle for the presidential campaign, and the well may soon run dry.

In order to keep pace with McCain, Obama has to raise $42 million over whatever he burns in September and October. He’s managing to raise the money, but he’s spending a lot of it as well — and if he can’t overmatch the Republicans, his decision to break his public-finance vow will be exposed as a financial mistake as well as an abandonment of principle.

Addendum: And, to put this in perspective, what did that 2-1 fundraising advantage buy Obama? He lost an eight-point Gallup lead, and now is in a dead heat among registered voters.

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If you are reading this and you are a Democrat, quit now. Obama is about to nosedive into a 41% vote tally and a crushing loss in November. Republicans will do well in the other elections. Howard Dean will be fired. This will leave Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Hillary Clinton, a fool, a tool, and revengeful brute in charge of your party. At about that time the US will have achieved a military and political victory in Iraq, and forced Russia to withdraw from Georgia using little more than diplomacy. China’s economy will collapse after the Olympics, while the US economy will remain steady. The standing of America will never be higher. John McCain will assemble a strong international coalition to disarm Iran. McCain will be more effective as a conservative President than Reagan. The party that bets on America will do well, and that is not your party. The Democratic Party will be relegated to the backwaters of history. Again, for your own good, leave your party now and do something positive with your life.

Remember that McCain Feingold was supposed to take the money out of Politics? Yet McCain is raising money, in order to be elected. I personally think he should be prohibited from raising money, and show us how you can win with only the money allowed from McCain Feingold.

Obama doesn’t spend that much money raising money, since most of it is raised online which is much cheaper than the direct mail Republicans continue to use.

I ONLY donate online, and yet I get mail from McCain or the RNC almost every day, which goes straight into the trash can. When are these idiots gonna figure out sending snail mail to people who donate online is a total waste of resources?

I just hope this all works out. I like Sen. McCain, and while I disagree with him on some issues, he’s a far better choice overall than sitting back and allowing Sen. Obama to be elected. Sen. Obama is probably a nice guy, but he’s wholly inexperienced, has terribly misguided philosophical thinking, and he seems to be just kind of winging it.

He said to Tony Rezko “Where shall we buy the ad slots” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

Tony aswered him , “Eight months bribes to Reille Hunter would not buy enough ad time for each of McCain’s”

Another campaign worker spoke up, “Here is a Chinese Family that wants give you twice the amount that one family can give, so we will bundle it with his gardener, but how much time will that buy among so many slots?”

Obama said, “Sit down and shut up.” Obama then took the money said he deserved it and the family should thank him for taking it. Did a little hope, did a little change, got down with the land deals that night, and bought up enough ad time for the convention.

If unions donate to the DNC, and illegal aliens work for unions, then illegal aliens are illegally donating (plenty of union workers are by force from what I heard on Laura Ingraham a couple of weeks ago) to the DNC; so isn’t this illegal, and will the DNC and Hussein Obama admit that they have taken funds that have come from illicit sources?

The convention is the key. If Obama does not get a 10 point bounce out of it he’s so far up Shits Creek without a paddle that even his most ardent supporters will start to get a whiff of the bad smell.

I gave money to the McCain campaign, not a lot, but I am not rich either. So while the conservatives sit home and pout and vow not to give McCain a dime unless he adopts the policies they demand he adopt…he is still competitive. He is competitive without the big bucks that Obama can bring in and he is competitive without money from the sore loser contingent on the right.

I have to say, I know that a lot of people just consider money to be another example of free speech or whatever, but this makes me uncomfortable somehow. I know people will say I am naive to have a problem with people buying the White House, but that is how all this sounds to me. More and more it is all about money. Lincoln could not win today. He was ugly, poor and did not cater to the people who demand to be catered to.

McCain is a conservative who will cut taxes and the size of the government.

indythinker on August 16, 2008 at 4:19 PM

The pitfalls of an anti-government government have been exposed many times. Bush and his ilk wanted to cut government down to the size where it could drown in a bathtub. In New Orleans…it did.

If you are reading this and you are a Democrat, quit now. Obama is about to nosedive into a 41% vote tally and a crushing loss in November. Republicans will do well in the other elections. Howard Dean will be fired. This will leave Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Hillary Clinton, a fool, a tool, and revengeful brute in charge of your party. At about that time the US will have achieved a military and political victory in Iraq, and forced Russia to withdraw from Georgia using little more than diplomacy. China’s economy will collapse after the Olympics, while the US economy will remain steady. The standing of America will never be higher. John McCain will assemble a strong international coalition to disarm Iran. McCain will be more effective as a conservative President than Reagan. The party that bets on America will do well, and that is not your party. The Democratic Party will be relegated to the backwaters of history. Again, for your own good, leave your party now and do something positive with your life.

indythinker on August 16, 2008 at 2:13 PM

This is delusional to the point of self-parody. Save your comment and then look back at it in a year.

Go ahead, complain about McCain, but even if the hard right got the candidate they wanted they would probably turn on him. They usually do. That is one reason the rest of the Republican party decided to back McCain this time.

The government in New Orleans was a Democratic government, as was the state government at the time. I know it is difficult for Democrats to do this, but how about seperating the nonsense from the rhetoric. Bush is not responsible for corrupt and inefficient local government and he is not responsible for bad weather.

As far as small government, I think that is a two edged sword. Everyone thinks government spending is wasteful, unless the government is spending it on them.

After 9/11 Bush was pressured by both parties to create a new cabinet position and the Department of Homeland Security. It was an expansion of government that he initially resisted but that a lot of people on both sides the aisle supported after the World Trade Center attack.

But the DHS is small potatoes compared to the kind of expansion of government and government spending one can expect from the Democrats.

The deficit has doubled since they took over Congress. That is just the beginning.

Captain Ed applies his sharp, pundit mind to those numbers and declares: BAD NEWS FOR OBAMA

Thanks Ed!

e-pirate on August 16, 2008 at 5:47 PM

You must of missed the part about $82 million McCain gets in September. So, Obama will have to out raise McCain by more than $27 million per month over August, September and October to match McCain, and McCain will be helping the RNC raise money, so RNC already has more cash on hand and will only increase their lead.

Meanwhile Obama spneds cash like candy. Look at Florida where McCain has not had one ad, compared to all the ads Obama has spent on. And Nationally, it is a tie.

It’s interesting isn’t it how some posters manner of speech and phrasing tell so much about them and their intellectual age–perhaps even chronological age. Trolls seem especially prone to this kind of tacit admission.

Please provide contrarian data with appropriate references to dispell the myth of Dems being rich/elitist.

coldwarrior on August 17, 2008 at 12:27 AM

Is this a serious post or a joke? I can’t tell.
You provided extremely anecdotal evidence, even noted that it was a “short data base,” but somehow decided that meant your conclusion was valid. Um, no, it doesn’t work that way, sorry.

Using your strategy, I could say “McCain has a lot more money than Obama, and therefore the Republican party is the party of the rich.” How’s that for ya?

Beyond that, I reject the notion that rich = elitist. There are many elitists who aren’t rich, and many rich who aren’t elitist.

Must not be familiar with “alphie.” Trying to coax “alphie” to respond with something, anything…other than the usual one liners, disjointed phrases and all that.

[Yes, the “short data base” is not the sort of thing to “prove” anything, pretty weak all across the board. Obvious, isn’t it? But, a few of us have been attempting to draw “alphie” out for weeks now.]